First Day Blues

The storms that caused tornadoes down in Springfield knocked me out of bed last night but things had calmed down by time to walk in to work. Less than 20 minutes - not a bad trek at all. The first day of work, of course, was bordering on hellish, but that was not unexpected. Everybody wants everything and they want it yesterday. Unfortunately, I let too many people get my time for too many things which put me behind on doing what's most important (it's the budget, stupid) so I've got some catching up to do tomorrow (I'm not doing it now because it's too late and I'm too tired). I'd hoped to get out tonight to do a little exploring, but was unable to do so due to work (including a 7:30 call), so I ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was way too slow.

But I do have some damn nice things to say about the Allerton! First of all, Lex and mapgirl will appreciate that the conference rooms are names Wright, Burnham, Sullivan, Root, etc. And I have been extremely well-treated (despite the slow response at dinner) both because my company apparently sends a lot of trade their way and the fact that I'm here for 2 weeks running. I found a bottle of wine and a basket of fruit waiting for me when I got back from work (unfortunately aNOTHER reason I didn't get everything done tonight that I needed) and a voice mail from the business customer manager offering to move me to a suite when one is available Wednesday. While that sounds nice (this is a SMALL room), I don't relish packing everything back up tomorrow night so I think I'll pass.

The walk into work was nice today - we'll see what I think about it tomorrow when it's 30 degrees with 40 mph gusts. The Chicago River was still green this morning - that might be the normal color or it might have something to do with the St. Patrick's Day parade being last weekend. I enjoy walking past Chicago landmarks like the Wrigley Building and the Trib Tower (and Niketown and the temple of Apple) but I do recognize that if I actually MOVED here I'd never be able to live within 45 minutes of downtown. I am still looking into corporate apartments for this stint though.

Most importantly, I think I've found a comic book store down across from Grant Park - yay!!